Soap-press.



No. 699,887. Patented may I3, 1902. J. n. MASECAR.

SOAP PRESS.

Application filed Dec. 11,'1901.) (No Model.) t 3 Sheets$heet 2.

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(Application filed Dec. 11, 1961.

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dohn R UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFICE.

JOHN R. MASEOAR, OF TORONTO JUNCTION, CANADA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO DAVID BROWN, DONAGHMORE, IRELAND.

SOAP-PRESS.

srnorrroairrolv forming part of Letters Patent naeegssv, dated May 13, 1902.

' of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to m achinery for pressingor stamping bars 'or cakes of plastic ma terial, such as soap, and has for its object to provide an improved'machine by which the bars may be rapidly and automatically fed: into the dies one after another, stamped, and

discharged from the machine without requir ing manipulation by the attendant beyond the simple placing of said barsin the receiv ing-conveyor.

It has been proposed heretofore to construct automatic soap-presses with a charging table.

or guideway onto which the bars to be pressed were fed through 'a vertical or inclined chute opening at the bottom upon said guideway, a plunger'bein'g arranged to slide to and fro in the guideway to push the bars of soap placedi therein into the dies. A discharge track or c'on'duit was provided onthe opposite side of" the dies from the charging-guideway in aline-. 1 ment therewith, and each unpressed bar as it was fed forward was "intended to dislodge from the dies the bar alreadypressed and push such pressed bar ahead of it onto the discharge-track. This machine is open to objection in that the bars of soap are apt to be mutilated and stuck together when the unpressed bar is pushed violently against the one which hasbeen pressed and is sticking to the die, and it would also sometimes happen that the pressed bar would not be moved completely out from between the dies, so that one edge'thereof was caught between them and mutilated.

In accordancewith my invention a dis charging-striker is'combined with the charging device v and arranged toact at an angle thereto to. strike the pressed bar which may be sticking the die, dislodge said bar, and throw the same out of the path of the oncoming unpressed bar before the latter reaches the dies.

A stop may be provided on the opposite side of the dies from the charging de- Application filed December 11,1901. Serial No. 85,472. (No model.)

ivice, so that the unpressed bars may be arirested at the proper point immediately between the dies, and a discharge track or guideway leading to a traveling conveyor may be provided to receive the pressed bars as they are thrown out of the dies.

A further feature of the invention consists in providing a yielding spring connection between the lever which actuates the movable die and the pitman or part by which such lever is moved, so that the movement of the die may be accommodated to some extent to the thickness of the cake which is being pressed. I

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated my invention as applied to a soap-press of well-known form which was originally designed to be fed by'hand and operated by foot-power, this press having been converted by meansof my invention into an automatic press. a

Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine. Fig.

2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a detail of a portion of the mechanism. Fig. 4: is 'a' front or end view; and Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on line 5 5, Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference are used to designate the same parts wherever they are shown. a Y The machine illustrated embodies besides the improvements of my invention certain other improvements which were invented jointly by myself and Thomas Bevin gton, and which are described and claimed in a separate application, Serial No. 85,47 3, filed December 11, 19 01.

The upper and lower dies a a are arranged to reciprocate in vertical planes in a wellknown manner, the upper die being attached to a sliding cross-head o and the lowerdie being arranged to slide vertically in the die-box a, said lower die being yieldingly maintained in an elevated position at the top ofthe diebOX through the agency of a spring 0' in a 5 well-known manner. I have shown a vertical rod 15, carrying at its upper and lower ends, respectively, arms t 19. The arm t supports the lower die, and the arm t extends over the sliding cross-head 0, so that as said cross-head rod is raised after a cake is stamped it strikes the arm 26' and so positively raises the lower die by raising the rod. t and the arm t which support said lower die. The spring 0 is confined between the frame of the machine and a collar on said rod t to yieldingly maintain the rod in an elevated position. This structure is known in the art and requires no further description. The cross-head carrying the upper die is reciprocated by means of a bell-crank lever (Z, pivoted at (Z' to the frame of the machine. The lower end of the lever d, which in the machine illustrated was originally intended to be moved by the foot of the operator, is connected by means of a pitman-rod c with a crank-pin f which is carried by a crank-disk f, mounted 011 the main drivingshaftf. The shaftf is rotated by the main driving-belt wheelf with which it is connected through suitable clutch mechanism f The pitman c is not rigidly connected to the lever d, but is arranged to slide in the yokepiece 6, which embraces the lower end of the lever and is pivoted thereto. A collar 6*, arranged to slide in the manner of a cross-head along the arms of the yoke-piece e, is fixed rigidly upon the inner end of the pitman-rod e, and a strong compression-spring c encir cling the rod, is confined between the sliding collar and the cross-bar of the yoke-piece. When a soap bar of unusual thickness is placed between the dies, the upper die cannot descend as far as it ordinarily would, and the yielding spring connection between the pitman and the operating-lever makes the machine automatically adjustable to stamp soap bars of varying thickness. When the upper die has descended as far as it will go by reason of the thickness of the soap bar, any farther outward movement of the pitman in a direction to depress the die still farther is taken up by the sliding of the pitinan-rod within the yoke-piece 6' against the tension of the spring 6. A charging table or guideway g is provided at the front of the machine, leading to the open mouth of the die-box, and a reciprocating plunger g is arranged to slide to and fro in said guideway, so that when a bar of soap is placed in the guideway said plunger will serve to push the soap along the table and into the dies, where it is stamped. To actuate the charging-plunger g, a centrally-pivoted oscillating-lever h is provided, the upper end of: said lever being connected to the plunger and the lower end thereof being slotted to engage a pin 7L, which is carried by a rotating crank-disk W. The crank-disk is mounted on acounter-shaft 71.3, which is connected through suitable bevelgearing and an intermediate shaft with the main driving-shaft f. bars from the dies, I have provided a discharging-striker, which may be a reciprocating plunger Z, sliding in a suitable guideway, and which, acting in a plane at right angles to the plunger g, throws the stamped bars laterally out of the dies and onto the discharge track or guideway m. A conveyer n may be arranged to receive the bars as they To expel the stamped are ejected through the discharge-guideway. One wall m of the guideway m is extended angularly over the conveyer n, so that the stamped bars passing from the dischargetrack 771 onto the conveyer will be arrested by said extension on, so that their momentum will not carry them clear off the conveyer and to carry said bars to the wrapping-tables. The plunger Z is reciprocated by means of a centrally-pivoted oscillating lever Z, the upper end of which passes through a hole in the plunger and the lower end of which is adapted to be engaged by a pin Z carried by the rotating disk Z mounted on the shaft 70. At each rotation of the disk the pin Z strikes the lower end of the lever, which is interposed in its path, and moves said lever in a direction to advance the discharge-plunger. As soon as the pin passes the end of the lever the plunger 6 is instantly snapped back by means of a spring. In the machine illustrated the spring which retracts the dischargingplunger is an elastic bar of wood 0, anchored at the bottom to the frame of the machine and having its free end connected to the rear end of the plunger Z bya rope or thong 0'. A considerable advantageis obtained by quickly snapping back the discharge-plunger the instant after it reaches the end of its stroke instead of having it moved back at the same speed at which it was advanced, An unpressed cake cannot be pushed between the dies until the discharge-plunger is out of the way, and the work of that plunger is done the moment the pressed cake is thrown into the discharge-track, so that the quick return of the plunger makes possible a considerable increase in the operative speed of the ma chine.

One wall of the guideway in which the discharge-plungerslides is extended past the diebox to face the charging-plunger, forming a stop which serves to arrest the oncoming unpressed cakes at the proper point immedi ately between the dies.

It is understoodpf course, that the mechanism for moving the die and the charging and discharging plungers is adjusted so that the several movements will be properly timed, the charging-plunger being advanced just before the descent of the die and the dischar ingplunger advanced, so as to strike the pressed cake the instant after the dies have released it.v

Any desired means may be provided for feeding the cakes to the charging-table. I have shown a feeding box or chute 19 extending diagonally upward from the side of the charging-table, said chute being adapted to receive the soap bars end to end and feed them laterally onto the charging-table into the path of the charging-plunger. When the charging-plunger moves forward, it pushes the bar of soap from the charging-table on into the dies to be stamped, one edge of said plunger serving meanwhile to support the column of bars in the feed-box. As the charging-plunger is retracted after each forward movement, the bar of soap at the bottom of the cakes being turned on their sides in passing from the first-mentioned conveyor to the second. All that is necessary for the attendant to do is to place a row of soap bars to be pressed upon the main conveyer. The bars are then automatically carried one by one to the charging-table, pushed between the dies, stamped, and finally ejected laterally from the machine onto the conveyor-belt n, which carries them to the wrapping-tables.

I have shown means for moistening the cakes of soap as they slide through the feeding chute p onto the charging table, said means consisting of a flap of cloth s which rests upon the soap cakes, as shown most clearly in Figs. 4 and 5, said flap being directly below the spigot s of a Water-jug s,

- and a discharging-striker acting in the plane of the charger at an angle to the line of movement thereof adapted to dislodge the pressed bar from the dies and throw'the same laterally out of the path of the unpressed bar which is to be advanced by the charger, substantially as set forth. j

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a die-box having a mouth or opening at the top, of the vertically-reciprocating upper die adapted to force a cake to be pressed down into a die-box through said opening, the lower die reciprocating vertically within the die-box and arranged to return the stamped cake to the mouth of the box, a charging-table on a level with the mouth of the die-box, a charger arranged to push an unstamped cake along said table to the mouth of the die box, a discharge-track leading laterally from said mouth of the dieboX, the discharging-striker arranged opposite said discharge-track facing the same and acting across the mouth of the die-box to throw the pressed cakes into the dischargetrack, and mechanism for automatically actuating the several moving parts, as set forth.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination with the vertically-reciprocating dies, of a charging-table in front of said dies, a charger adapted to push between the dies a bar or cake placed on said charging-table, a discharging-striker acting at an angle to the charger in the same horizontal plane to dislodge the pressed bar from the dies and throw the same laterally out of the path of the unpressed bar which is to be advanced by the charger, and mechanism for actuating the striker, said mechanism being arranged to retract the striker more quickly than-the to slide toand fro on said table, and mech anism for actuating said plunger, a discharge track at right angles to the line of travel of the charging-plunger, a stop on the opposite side of the dies from the charging-plunger, a discharging-plunger arranged to slide to and 'fro in a path at right angles to the chargingplunger and facing the discharge-track, mechanism foradvancing the discharge-plunger,

and a spring for quickly snapping backthe :said discharge-plunger after it has made its forward, journey.

In witnessWhereofI have hereunto set my hand this 23d day of November, 1901..

I JOHN R. MASECAR.

Witnessesi D. C.'TANNER, A. J. ANDERSON. 

